http://www.dealersynergy.com
Discussing "Pay Plans", Commissions, Bonuses (And WHY) Inside an Automotive Internet Sales 20 Group - Sean V. Bradley
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Tired of watching your boss’s eyes glaze over every time you mention a “20% increase in likes?”
Depressed from hearing your colleagues report on revenue growth while you report on retweets?
Sick of people asking you what it’s like having “the fun job?”
This article is for you.
The truth is; most social media programs today are still lacking a true sales strategy at the core. We do have a social media strategy, you may say. On Mondays, we post a funny tweet, on Tuesday we post a car picture, and on Wednesday, we post statistics.
To this, I say, an editorial calendar is not a strategy. It’s a schedule. To take your social media to the next level, you need to start correlating it to true sales metrics. The good news? You totally can.
Here’s how to do it:
Example of a Social Lead Funnel
Step 1: Create a spring campaign for a free car wash for new Twitter followers (use a service like TwitHawk to geo-target.)
Step 2: When your followers come in for their free car wash, make sure they feel welcome. Have your staff go through shaking hands, handing out lemonade and cookies, and bringing around an iPad asking people if they’d like to sign up for your social channels for more great offers and information.
Step 3: From there, nurture them with content marketing that balances car shopping best practices (How To Speed Through the Car-Buying Process) with marketing about your dealership (Why Lola’s Car Dealership is the Best).
Step 4: Once you’ve nurtured the relationship with about 3-5 pieces of strong content, it’s time to reel them in with some urgency. Send them a deal they can’t refuse: either a service coupon that’s only good for the next three days, or an LTO hefty discount on a car that only lasts for the next two hours. Take a cue from Groupon; the shorter the window, the more people are inclined to act, so don’t be afraid to add an element of adventure and excitement with a super-tight time frame.
This is just one example of a content marketing funnel, and there are many variations you could try.
My overall point is that it’s now fully possible to tie social media to the ROI metrics your Dealer Principal or COE actually cares about: leads and sales. You now have the means to up your game from marginalized maven to basking in the glow of revenue generation with all your digital marketing colleagues. Won’t that feel great?
What have you done at your dealership to help create a Social Funnel? Sound off in the comments!
Source - http://www.dealerrefresh.com/likes-to-leads-creating-a-social-sales-funnel/#more-7844
We know the fun part. When you first get your hands on one. They are new to you. All coddling is out the window and it is time for action. These first intimate interactions are exciting. It is that magical time when you first get together…
I am speaking of the moment the lead arrives.
Imagine a lead, as it grows, becomes an infant. It enters your dealerships CRM world brand-spanking new. It is helpless. It needs your immediate attention and devotion. Like a baby, it needs your warmth and your motherly/fatherly care. This is a beautiful time. You get to read the information the customer submitted on the lead, read into the customer with a little lead deconstruction and smile at their peccadillos. You get to garner pricing for it, check the inventory, and coddle the lead with a detailed, personalized first manual email response and phone call. The world is new and you love that lead. It represents hope…the future… a sale.
While a good motherly/fatherly Internet Sales Manager is still caring for that newborn lead at three months with the same utter devotion they did at one day old, other ISMs do not. Unfortunately, for some, that new baby smell wears off. They don’t feed the lead daily. They don’t call out to it. They don’t keep a watchful eye and make sure it isn’t in need of help. And this is the problem with lead management at car dealerships.
I’ve devoted my life to only a few things.
- My children and family. (I am insanely proud of the Dad I’ve become).
- My comedy and writing. (Hey, everyone needs a creative passion outside of their daily duties).
- Improving the way dealers do business. (More specifically, how improved communication with customers can change the way car dealers are perceived.)
At DealerKnows, from our in-store consulting to our Virtual Dealer Training…from the watchful eye we are in a dealer’s CRM and website to the honest and progressive brand that DK has become, our love of improving dealers’ phone, email, chat, text and video practices make us incredibly proud. We witness the growth and transformation of their Internet profitability the same way a good parent cherishes watching their children grow and learn. Now why can’t more Internet Sales Managers feel the same way about their very own leads?
Today’s ISMs must take ownership of their leads and be proud of the care they give them. They must recognize that managing a lead isn’t just a Day 1 wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am task, but a consistent, long-term daily regimen with each and every lead they parent.
Regardless of the statistics showing that Internet sales are being closed sooner and sooner to their arrival in the CRM, we believe that a lead has value (and the ability to sell) at any point in its lifetime. And this is where Internet teams fail. They give up. They skirt their responsibilities of being the lead’s guardian all the way through from conception to conversion. They like the lead when it is new to them, but don’t want to participate in the diaper-duty associated with long-term lead management.
What are you doing to ensure all tasks are completed in the CRM?
How often are you looking to guarantee leads aren’t being flipped to lost or bad far too early in the cycle?
You need to check regularly. We find this to be one of the most common process breaks and profit leaks in every dealership. As we at DealerKnows monitor the daily goings-on inside our clients’ CRMs, we see when they are ignoring the babies. They don’t try to raise them or educate them. They simply tend to them in the first few days and then pay them no mind after a few days. It is neglectful. And we can assure you it is happening at your store too if you’re not training them to be better parents.
Reinforce the need to follow-up with all leads until their adulthood, or at least until they buy. If you are a dealership operator, you need to be the social services of your store. Make sure your people are caring for the store’s leads consistently and don’t just focus on those first few response-time metrics. If you are the Internet Sales Manager, don’t think your job is over after your first interaction with the lead. Take care of it. Love it. Care for it until it matures. Don’t abandon your leads too early in the process.
You can’t just make the baby… you have to raise the baby.
Source - http://www.dealerrefresh.com/internet-lead-follow-up-like-raising-babies/#more-7856
http://www.automotiveinternetsales.com ;
One of my Dealers just forwarded me this official email from Vehix sent him yesterday...
Dear Vehix Dealer,
As you may know, Comcast Spotlight has owned Vehix since 2008. As part of an ongoing evaluation of Comcast Spotlight’s business strategy and focus, it was determined that the Vehix business does not currently align with the company’s strategic direction. As a result, Vehix operations will be winding down by June 30. This business decision does not change Comcast Spotlight’s commitment to the automotive segment. In fact, we are continuing to devote significant resources to ensuring Comcast Spotlight remains the advertising services provider of choice for the automotive community.
Q: What does this mean for your business?
A: Vehix leads and dealer advertisements will be delivered through June 30, 2012.
Q: What does this change mean for dealer support?
A: The Vehix dealer team will provide regular support through this process. This support includes questions about inventory feeds/photos, lead disputes and credits. To ensure your invoice is accurate, please review and submit all lead disputes and credits by July 10, 2012. Your prompt payment on all invoices is appreciated.
Q: Who do I contact with questions about the transition?
A: Please call a Vehix dealer specialist at 801-401-6060.
As Vehix leaves the highway, I want to sincerely thank you for your support. Vehix.com has long been a valuable place to promote your vehicles and reach buyers as they search for a new or used car. It’s easy to look back and say with pride that it has been a great ride.
Best regards,
Derek Mattson
Vehix CEO
Inquiries from members of the press/media should be directed to Chris Ellis of Comcast Spotlight (chris_ellis@comcast.com,215-286-7771).
*** I couldn't help it, but this song popped into my head immediately. What are your thoughts about Vehix being phased out? Do you care? Does it even matter?
Automotive Internet Sales / Phone Sales "What to Do if There is NO Phone Number or a Bogus Number"
The hardest part of Automotive Internet Sales or Business Development is simply getting the prospect on the phone and that in part is because you might not have ANY phone number to contact them or its a wrong / bogus phone number... OR you might have a number, it could be there home or office and you can't seem to connect with them. So, what do you do? I see way too many people in our industry accepting defeat without ever trying to do something proactively to try to create a connection with a prospect.
What can you do...?
First and foremost is NOT to accept that if there is no phone number listed or if there is a wrong phone number that "That is it". You MUST seek out an alternative... Here is a GREAT website you can go to:
or
or my personal favorite is to call "411" and ASK for a "Reverse Look Up".
If you can not find the prospect's phone number trying those resources then maybe you should take their email address (from their internet purchase request) and drop it into:
etc...
The bottom line is TAKE A SHOT... try to find a person's contact information, or better contact information. REACH OUT TO THEM. Be "Proactive".
And remember, "You can not lose something, that you never have had before".
If you have any questions about this post or would like some free help... call me or email me-
Automotive Internet Sales - Example of How to Handle "Bought Elsewhere" / Dead Deals - Don't WASTE Opportunities!
Everyone knows that the hardest part of Automotive Internet Sales is getting someone on the phone... I get it. As a matter of fact on average you will only connect with approximately 11- 14 percent on the phone. Meaning that if you make 120 Out bound phone calls, you will connect with 14-17 people on the phone (Not a very good ROI on your efforts). But, it is what it is...
Now it gets EVEN more frustrating when you FINALLY get someone on the phone after following up with them for days or sometimes even weeks / months and hearing "Sorry, I bought elsewhere". You have to FIGHT the urge of getting mad, or even being rude. Or worse, being indifferent and just letting it slip into the "Dead Deal" folder on your CRM.
Even though you lost the opportunity to sell a vehicle, you can turn that prospect into a service opportunity. Why would you care...? Because a service customer is 7 times more likely to purchase a vehicle from where their service their vehicle from. AND... your dealership might have lost the "sales" revenue, but THEY might be able to secure "service" revenue.
Furthermore, It is a well know statistic that a prospect that buys a vehicle, someone else in THEIR HOUSEHOLD will buy another vehicle within 90 days! That means, even though you lost that initial sale you can possibly secure a strong referral for a future opportunity if you handle the situation the right way.
If you would like me to elaborate on this post or if you have any questions what so ever, please feel free to email or call me.
Google Places Out, Google+ Local Takes Over
Last night several new rollouts were seen in Google+ Local, seeming to merge Google Places accounts into the newest social search display of your Google+ dashboard. Here's what we've seen in our research about the new way search and reviews are changing for Car Dealers for automotive internet marketing on Google.
Do the new changes show in Google Search today?
As of this article's publishing, no. However, we're sure its only a matter of time before the Google+ Local becomes integrated into your standard search engine results page from Google. Where can you find the new Google+ Local Search? Log into your Google+ account. You'll find the new Local button on the left dash.
From there, the Search boxes at the top are broken down into two uses: What you're looking for | Where.
In the following example, we went looking for "jeep dealers" in "Philadelphia, PA". Just like in Google search, the auto complete starts as you begin to type, and its obvious some of the "Categories" from Google Places have made it over to Google+ Local.
What do Google+ Local Search Results Look Like?
From the looks of the new search results, Google has been busy! Immediately we're presented with a new layout of information. You've got your standard Company Name, Address in a lighter color text, then your overall review score, At a Glance terms, and a quote from your most recent review. Photos are a bigger deal taking up a larger portion of the listing.
Even more shocking, where did your star ratings go? Some car dealerships will notice that reviews have been dropped in the transition, something we hope Google notices and fixes in the future. (Read more about reviews below)
While Google has dedicated more room to the first photo of your account, and the new reviews rating system, it has left a lot of the "Where did that come from" information on the listing, namely the "At a glance" terms.
I was fortunate enough to have spoken with some of the Google Places team at a conference earlier this year and I asked them where the "known-for" or At a Glance terms came from. Their response: "even we don't know", its another part of a Google formula most of the Google Places team is not familiar with, or was unable to comment on. My speculation, its from an old patent Google applied for several years ago surrounding actionable or descriptive wording. Type "great customer service" in a review, Google might be grabbing those descripters after positive or negative indicators.
The map display with pins is nothing new along the right side of search results and the "Key To Ratings" helps describe how the review values have changed.
30 is the new 5! Big Reviews Change for Car Dealers on Google+ Local
There have been many changes in the way review information is handled in Google+ Local. First point of business, they've moved away from the STAR value reviews. Its now apparent Google's acquisition of Zagat several months ago was only the beginning, as they've rolled out No Stars, but a point scale ranging from Zero to 30. This also brings up the question, will Google move away from displaying Star values in standard SERPs from other sources like Yelp & DealerRater, only time will tell.
Past reviews are there, some have been dropped, but most have made it over. The new 0 to 3 values are a departure from 1 to 5 stars. Perhaps this is an answer to the requests from review writers to be able to give a Zero star rating in the past, so Dealers be warned, no longer can you score a 1, you can be a zero. The overall formula is pretty simple to grasp. Previous reviews are still rated in a conversion of 5 stars now equals 3, averages are made, and then multiplied by 10, rounded and there's your 30 points.
When writing new reviews on Google+ Local, you're prompted for 3 different ratings. As seen in the screen shot above, Google is asking for your feedback based on different "Labels" or areas of review. By default, the systems asks you for a 0 to 3 rating on Quality, Appeal & Service. It appears right now that there are no specific review types for "Car Dealer", so hopefully this will be a change in the future. Even when testing and writing for this article, we found different variations for the "Labels" that were available, first only 5 selections, then by mid-day 7.
Its easy to see that once enough of these new reviews have been created, Google will roll out the individual Label ratings like they do for restaurants; the threshold at which point that will turn on was not apparent in our testing like it is for Places (the star rating turned on when you hit 5 reviews).
Photos, Reviews now pop on Business Listing
The company name is still front and center, but if its more than 33 characters its currently being cut off after character 32 with an ellipsis (...). For some reason, the address is in the listing info twice, once under the company name, and again under About. Fancy new icons represent different parts of the data. Phone number and Toll-Free numbers are displayed but not labeled, and the website URL seems to stand out less. Categories carried over from Google Places, along with the Hours of Business. We'll be watching the "actions" in the Google Places metrics to see how this new layout changes the way customers use the listing.
If you're wondering where all the time you spent picking those 5 key categories went, and now you're only seeing 2 or 3, click on the new Categories terms, and you'll see a list of hidden items, who really knows why they didn't display all by default, there's certainly enough room.
Your standard Description from the old Places listing has been brought over and is now called "From the owner:". The once large, bright red "Write a Review" button has changed to a more soothing white text on light blue. Another more transparent black on white Review button has also been added at the bottom of the page.
Abilities to Google +1, Share (only on Google+ of course) and upload a picture have all been added or moved around, but are in a logical flow as buttons under the Map on the right side of the listing.
Hopefully, the amount of personal data that is now displayed via the Google+ profile when you leave a review will discourage those hit and run negative reviewers.
Claiming and Optimizing your new Google+ Local page
Not much has changed when it comes to claiming your listing, even Google admits this process is the same as it has been.
You're still presented with the old Google Places claim interface asking for verification.
However, from the outside trying to update an unclaimed or claimed listing that is not yours, the editing screen is significantly different, as seen in this screen shot.
You can now select which part of data is incorrect and how it should be corrected. While the old radio buttons are still available a level or two down into the editing screen, there's more specificity to your edit suggestion.
What's a Car Dealer to do now that Google+ Local is taking over Google Places?
Go with the flow. Google is just asking you to do what it feels is best business practices. Claim your account, add a description, photos of the staff & showroom, pick the right default categories, fix your marker, ask for reviews in the service lane and at sales.
Start to focus on social indicators like Google and Bing are now doing. They want a personalized feeling for your customers, and increased engagement with social factors like +1, Shares, Tweets, Links and Likes.
Expect that the next change is just around the corner, and when Google flips the switch you'll need to be on the cutting edge to keep up with automotive internet marketing.
UPDATE! As of May 30th @ 5pm Eastern:
There seems to have been an update to Google Maps searches, but not to Google SERPs for straight search. What we're seeing now is if you do a search in "Maps", it now displays the new Google+ Local review ratings and upon clicking "XX reviews" are brought to the new G+ L listing page. Interesting, we'll see if tomorrow brings us the actual Google Search change.
The rules have changed in automotive SEO. In fact, they've changed for the entire search engine optimization world. It's no longer a function of quantity that determines rankings. More content, more links, more social signals - that's fine, but it won't help you as of April 24, 2012, the way it used to.
Today is the world of SEO quality over quantity. These changes have been anticipated for some time but only now are they really becoming apparent. Some dealers are dropping in rankings based upon their (or their vendor's) SEO efforts. As a result, others are moving up. Which side of the fence do you want to be on?
Here are some best practices to help you get on the right side of the fence. Click to enlarge.
How many times as a manager have you looked through a deal that one of your salespeople just dropped on your desk and you asked yourself. "Who filled out this credit application? Or who filled in the blanks? Why are there crossouts? It sure looks like my salesperson did this. I have a complete deal in front of me. Ok let's call it in. " That's the norme in most dealerships. We wag the dog, push the paper, let's spot the car. This is a major problem. Dealers we have got to get out of this old habbit!
For years I have been telling my salespeople. "The customer fills out the whole credit application! Not half, not some, but the whole thing! ' Would you let a mortgage broker fill out your mortgage application? So why would it be acceptable for are salespeople to fill out a customers 2nd biggest purchase application in their lifetime?
My article below is enough to scare anyone out of the bad habits of allowing a salesperson or any level of management to be filling out a credit application in there own handwriting for the dealer to save time.By having the customer
complete his or her application own reduces the chances of your sales staff from giving customers unnecessary pay raises, fake jobs, or even inflated investment income for a senior citizen so that they will qualify for a loan or lease with their high credit score. All of these scenario's are BANK FRAUD! Let's face it times are tough, and without proper process in set in place, as dealers we are wide open to lawsuits!
Automotive News reported on an informal online survey of F&I managers last month in which 29% responded that salespeople or sales managers fill in credit applications for customers at their stores. "Oh well they’re just trying to move the deal along quicker and help the customers fill them out the right way. What could go wrong?"
What happens if a customer claims that the income or time on the job shown on the application does not reflect the truth? How can that come up, you ask? How about a customer’s lawsuit over a deal that was rescinded when the customer’s financing was denied because his income could not be verified randomly by a Prime bank two weeks after being funded? Look at your dealer agreements with these banks. They can contact the customer the moment you send them a deal and request just about whatever they want to support the application that was submitted to them. Just because your funded, doesn't mean you won't get charged back!
What if the customer was at another dealership and the income you stated doesn't match the application that another dealer sent in the week prior? Red Flag. Now you need POI, that's if your lucky enough that the annalist or banks computer doesn't turn it down because they see it as a flam. In the world of computers banks are sharing more and more information to protect themselves by leaning on each other. In the end ultimately they are the ones who will get the car back when the customer stops making the payments. As dealers most of the banks that we use have zero recourse unless it is a sub prime bank that is for extreme risk. In cases of contracts with recoarse smart dealer makes sure the customer makes the first few payments right at the dealership. Or until the recourse period is over. Until then the car has a tracking unit in it, and the dealer has a spare key for easy recovery, and we have no worries. This is quite common in the Gulf Coast Region being that it is such a transient marketplace.
Or how about a claim against the dealership arising from a repossession where the customer claims that he could not afford the vehicle because his income on the credit application was falsified by the salesperson? To make matters worse the equipment that was stated on the book out sheet was also falsified. Now the dealer has REAL trouble. When matters like this become issues in litigation, it is easy for the customer to claim that he knows nothing about what was entered on the credit application if it is not in his handwriting. He will claim that the amount of income, the time on the job, and any of several other important facts were made up by the salesperson. Sure, he signed the application, but it was just another in an endless line of documents he was told to sign as part of his deal.
So where does your dealership stand if this happens? Where it leaves the dealer is basically in a position that he has to write a check and buy this vehicle back from the lender + any fee's the lender has incurred along the collections, and repossession process. Now you have an angry customer, without a car and destroyed credit. In light of the situation you as the Dealer have been deemed WRONG. Hopefully the customer doesn't look for a payday and proceed with a civial lawsuit. Unfortunately in this situation almost every dealer who has been forced to buy the vehicle back from the lender due to fraud, by a dealership employee a settlement has been rewarded. Oh and let's not forget what will happen if the State Attorney General decides to get involved. Whoever filled out that application may be paying fines, or even worse spending some time in prison. I don't know about you folks, but I'm way to cute for prisson
Not that it makes any sense? We get sued, or prosecuted for selling a car.The customer came to us. They begged and pleaded to get approved, and asked for our help. We did our job and sold them a car. But were the bad guys in the systems eyes to begin with. We are car dealers! "Us the big dealer vs the poor trusting customer." Who does the arbitrator or Judge rule in favor of? The little guy... Everybody's had a bad car deal including the arbitrator.
Certainly, dealers want credit applications to be legible and complete.They want salespeople to work with customers so that all of the required information is filled in. But a salesperson who is filling in the credit application for the customer makes it easy for the customer to claim that the salesperson made up the information. Here is the answer. Using blue ink pen. (Black ink can be accused as copy) Have all information on the credit application filled in by the customer. Have a seasoned salesperson, sales manager, or an F&I person work with the customer to develop all the pertinent information. Then have the customer sign the application, and initial the income and time on the job. The information on the credit application will be transferred into an electronic screen anyway "Dealer track, your DMS, etc." Even when the application is not legible, it should be handwritten again by the customer in the most legible form they can and signed again by the customer,. Along with the customer’s original handwritten application attached to the legible application, along with the printed copy of the application from the DMS system your dealership uses. Make sure you retain all original copies in the deal jacket with the orginal signatures. Doing otherwise is just being lazy, and you are not protecting the Dealership and it's Principal's best interest.
Being a thorough sales consultant or manager will only get you positive results, and enhance your chances of promotion because of leading by proper example.Regardless of all our efforts a customer can always claim that he wrote what he was told to write by a salesperson. But if it is the customer’s handwriting that is 100% throughout the application, and we have matching typed and written applications with original signatures on each. It will be a tough sale to a jury, or arbitrator that we as the dealer did anything wrong. Happy Selling! And remember compliance matters;)
By: Carter R. Nies
http://www.dealersynergy.com
Sean V. Bradley is Training a HIGH LEVEL Automotive Internet Sales / BDC Director on "How to Identify LOST Opportunities" and how to EVOLVE her Employees
Ok... You saw that video. Now watch the previous video. I am SO proud of this team. They went from Not feeling comfortabel, not being able to clear the whole 10 steps to CRUSHING it.
But that is STILL Not enough... I want my team to know the phone process inside and out, forwards and backwards. They will get there!
I recently came across a case study from the folks at BoldChat, and in it, they discussed the impact and implementation that their Live Chat program has had on NorthFace's business.
Before we dive into the key points in the case study, here's a question you need to ask yourself:
- Does your dealership website incorporate some variation of a LiveChat program?
If your top priority is customer service, it should. Here are a few benefits that were pointed out in the Case Study:
- You will see an increase in customer engagement
- If a customer is not sure what type of car they're looking for, chances are that they'll much prefer a live chat to a phone call. They might not want to get on the phone until they're absolutely sure what they want.
- This also falls under the category of ZMOT (Zero Moment of Truth). Customers are going online first before hitting the store/dealership. You must be there during the Zero Moment of Truth and Livechat can give you that advantage.
- After implementing Live Chat for their website, NorthFace saw a rise in chats/month from 4,000 to 17,000
- It will benefit your customer service team!
- Participating in live chat with customers will require your CSR's to become experts and more well versed in the product (i.e. vehicles) you're selling
- Before implementing chat, you'll want to vett your CSRs to ensure they're product evangelists.
So, does your website have some sort of Live Chat program? Why or Why not?
Automotive Sales Objections, Rebuttals, Expectations, & "What Ifs" for Interent / BDC Department
